


Blue and Bronze

by aliencereal



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Coming Out, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-02
Updated: 2015-09-16
Packaged: 2018-04-18 16:30:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4712729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliencereal/pseuds/aliencereal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dorian is the first Pavus in a century to be sorted anywhere but Slytherin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Year

**Author's Note:**

> Just a couple quick notes on this fic!
> 
> First off is that the rating has changed as it is on hiatus and is T-rated at its current stage!
> 
> The other thing is that this fic is eventually going to deal with Dorian getting rejected by his parents for his sexuality. It's a lighthearted fic overall, but I really don't want to gloss over that.
> 
> That said, enjoy the tiny baby first years!

Felix gets sorted into Gryffindor, and somehow, it isn't the worst part of Dorian's first night at Hogwarts.

The sorting hat barely touches him before it shouts out his fate to the whole hall.

"RAVENCLAW!"

There's a moment of stunned silence; a teacher has to guide him to his table. Dorian's knees are shaking so badly that he's surprised he makes it at all. Being separated from his best friend is bad, but being the first Pavus in a century not put in Slytherin is a _nightmare_.

All the clever things he'd planned to say at the feast desert him, and he only picks at his food. How long does he have before his father finds out? A day? Two?

He doesn't catch the names of his roommates during dinner. There are three of them-- a pureblood with a head of braids, a redhead with the wide-eyed wonder of a muggleborn, and a halfblooded boy who looks closer to eight than eleven and babbles about the library throughout the meal. Dorian doesn't talk to any of them until they've been ushered up to their bedrooms. He should be listening to the prefect who is answering questions, but he's too busy trying not to throw up what little dinner he ate. It's like a final nail in the coffin to see his trunk at the foot of one of the beds.

"Giles! Oh, baby, there you are!" Dorian's redheaded housemate squeals, scooping a black-and-white kitten off one of the beds. Dorian slips between the curtains surrounding his bed while the others are distracted.

The solitude doesn't help. He's homesick, he misses Felix and he's already regretting not eating dinner. He's preparing to spend the evening moping when redhead-with-a-cat pokes his head through the curtains.

"D'you want some of my chocolates?" He asks, grinning. He's still holding the kitten. Dorian strongly considers saying no, but the word 'chocolate' gives him another hunger pang.

"...What kind of chocolates?"

Redhead laughs.

"I knew you could talk! It's those little frogs that try to get away. Got 'em on the train. Come see, Finn is still trying to catch his!"

Redhead pulls back the curtain. The smallest of the boys is half under one of the beds, making little noises of distress. That must be Finn. On top of the bed is the boy with the braids, watching his housemate squirm with vague amusement.

"They aren't supposed to be this challenging," Braids says, prompting a snort of laughter from Redhead.

"Don't pick on him, Solas, come on."

Finn finally emerges from under Solas' bed, holding out his frog like a trophy.

"Got it! And _thank you_ , Maxwell, not everyone has practice with-- oh. Hello. You've come out," Finn says, looking surprised to see Dorian.

"So I have," Dorian replies with a sigh. Maxwell smiles at him reassuringly.

"It's okay, it's my first night away from home too," He says, handing Dorian one of the frogs. "I'm sure it'll get easier."

"My parents aren't going to be happy with my house," The words come out of Dorian's mouth before he can consider them. His cheeks burn, and Solas snaps his fingers in recognition.

"I knew I'd heard your name somewhere. You're a Pavus, your father works for the ministry."

Maxwell and Finn respond to that statement very differently.

"Which branch?" Finn asks.

"The what?" Maxwell asks simultaneously.

Solas looks so offended that it actually makes Dorian laugh.

*

They stay up at least an hour later than they should have to teach Max about wizarding government. Finn passes out on Solas' bed and they end up leaving him there.

Dorian is feeling a little better about life as they head down to breakfast.

"Is Fudge a normal surname for wizarding families?" Maxwell asks, which makes Solas sigh.

"Why do we keep coming back to this?" Solas complains, and Dorian shrugs.

"Well, it's at least a _little_ funny, isn't it?" Finn asks, smiling like he thinks it definitely is.

They're cut off as they enter the Great Hall.

"Max! Finn! Over here!" Someone is calling from the Ravenclaw table, waving her hands excitedly. Solas scowls, but the other boys don't seem to notice.

"Morning, Merrill," Max says as he sits down next to their housemate. "Oh! Did you introduce yourself last night, Dorian?"

"He didn't! Hello! I'm Merrill!" The girl is beaming at him. Dorian's feeling a bit sick again now that the threat of an owl from his father is back, but he manages a smile.

"Dorian Pavus. Charmed."

"Is that a pureblood thing? Talking like you're from Pride and Prejudice?" Maxwell asks, heaping food onto his plate. Finn snorts into his hand, and Merrill tilts her head questioningly.

"Like we're from what?" She asks.

"It's a movie," Max replies, and Solas sighs heavily.

"It's a _book_."

"It's both, I think," The girl on Merrill's other side offers. Dorian remembers her from the sorting; she'd been the next person sorted into Ravenclaw after he was. She must catch the way he's looking at her, struggling to remember her name, because she introduces herself.

"Neria Surana. You're feeling better today, then?"

Dorian nods, and nobody pushes the issue. The owls come and go without anything life changing for any of them. Maxwell and Neria are still trying to explain muggle films as they head to their first potions lesson.

Dorian is disappointed that they're with the Hufflepuffs instead of the Gryffindors; he hadn't managed to talk to Felix at all at breakfast. Professor Orsino seems benign if a bit boring, and he pairs them off briskly to start what is possibly the simplest potion Dorian has ever heard of.

Dorian gets Maxwell; to their right are Solas and Merrill, with Finn and a Ravenclaw girl who hadn't sat with them at breakfast on the left. If Dorian caught her name right, she's Velanna. Behind them, Neria is paired with a Hufflepuff boy named Daylen Amell.

Max is flipping pages almost before Orsino is done giving instructions.

"Doesn't elfroot have healing properties on its own?" He asks, running his finger down the ingredients list.

"You have to chew it, though. Tastes awful," Dorian tells him, sorting through their small pile to find the biggest roots to chop up. He wonders if Max read any of their books over the summer. He's a muggleborn, so it's doubtful he'd know that another way.

"Do you think I'd get in trouble if I tasted it?" Maxwell asks, holding up one of the smallest roots. Dorian makes a face.

"Either way, please don't."

Maxwell laughs.

"Okay, okay, no sampling the potion ingredients, got it," He concludes cheerfully, laying his tiny root down on the cutting board.

"You should use thicker ones for this," Dorian corrects, offering his partner one of the larger roots. Maxwell takes it.

"It doesn't mention that in the book, though?" He says, re-reading the instructions. Dorian shakes his head.

"My mother taught me to make this when I was six."

That was either the right or wrong thing to say, because Max's eyes take on a sparkle of sorts.

"Really? Why does it work that way?" He asks, bouncing a little in his seat from excitement. Quietly, Dorian thinks that _this_ is what a Ravenclaw looks like.

"You lose less of the root when you peel the big ones."

"So the outside isn't useful? Or is that the part that tastes bad?"

"The whole thing tastes--"

Next to them, Merrill yelps in surprise. Both her potion and her partner are on fire.

*

Orsino doesn't take any points from Ravenclaw, but they do get a very firm lecture about the difference between regular and royal elfroot. He seems impressed that any of them even _have_ that much of the royal kind.

The nurse cuts off Solas' half-destroyed braids, and he apparently has her take the whole thing off, because he's bald by dinner. Merrill apologizes profusely, which has no effect on Solas' sour mood. Maxwell brings a herbology book to dinner and asks Dorian endless questions about healing potions.

Felix visits their table just before dessert.

"We have Charms together!" He says, his tone somewhere between excited and apologetic. They'd both wanted to be in the same house.

"Did your parents teach you those too?" Maxwell asks excitedly, not bothered by the lack of introductions.

"Felix, this is Maxwell," Dorian provides, just before Merrill notices the newcomer.

"You're a Gryffindor!" She announces like a grand revelation. "Tell Hawke that Merrill says hi!"

There's an awkward beat of silence before she turns to her housemates to offer an explanation.

"We were train friends!"

*

Marian Hawke apparently takes 'train friends' to be some kind of commitment.  Charms class hasn't even started yet and she's already claimed Merrill as her partner.  At least it removes the possibility of another Solas-and-Merrill disaster-- and Dorian is just as quick to stake his claim on Felix.

"Didn't he have hair yesterday?" Felix asks in a whisper, pointing at Solas, who is sitting with Maxwell and Neria.  Dorian doesn't even try to suppress his grin.

"You didn't notice at dinner?  There was an accident in potions."

Felix looks alarmed.

"You lot were making healing draughts too, right?"

Dorian laughs and nods, which only ramps up the look of confusion on his friend's face.

"How did he even manage that?"

"Merrill."

Felix takes a moment to absorb this information, then nods.

"Oh.  Well.  She _is_ friends with Marian."

In spite of having shown no interest in their hushed conversation previously, Hawke turns around in her seat to point at Felix accusingly.

"It's Hawke!" She protests, and Felix raises his hands in the universal signal of 'woah, sorry'.  The birthmark across her nose makes her look oddly intimidating for an eleven year old with hair like a bird's been nesting in it.  She huffs a little, but almost immediately shifts her attention to Dorian.

"Weren't you that kid who couldn't find Ravenclaw table on your own?"

Professor Irving arrives before Dorian has to come up with an explanation, thus marking the only time he'll ever be glad Charms class is starting.

*

> _Dorian,_
> 
> _Felix's parents passed along the information about your house assignment.  I can't say I'm not disappointed--_  

Dorian has to take a break before he can keep reading the letter.  Maxwell provides an excellent diversion, being overjoyed by the presence of Dorian's family owl.  He's completely abandoned his toast.

"He's looking at me!" Max squeals, wiggling his fingers in the owl's face.  Solas sighs, which is already a normal noise for their little group.

"Don't do that," He says, grabbing Max by the wrist to pull him away from the owl.  Dorian watches them in silence, and wonders what they'd say if they knew what the owl had delivered.  He'd probably get sympathy from Maxwell, at least.  Finn isn't paying attention to any of them, talking animatedly with Merrill about their upcoming astronomy class; Velanna still doesn't sit with them and Neria is half-asleep.

"I asked my parents to get me an owl, but they said they didn't know where you got those, so I got Giles instead.  But Giles is great, so that's okay!" Max babbles, not bothered by the fact that Solas still has a hold on his arm.

"Didn't he eat your shoelaces last night?" Dorian asks weakly, trying to put the letter out of mind.  Maxwell laughs.

"Aw, that's okay, he was just being a cat."

Solas rolls his eyes but lets go of Max, who immediately starts trying to feed the owl his toast.

*

Dorian isn't disowned, but he's still feeling moody as his housemates start to head up to bed that night.  He's only pretending to read, laying on his back on one of the couches.

He doesn't realize how long he's been staring at the stars painted onto the ceiling until Maxwell's face blocks them out.  There's a symmetry to the before and after; Max's freckles are like stars themselves.

Wow, he really needs sleep if he's waxing poetic about his friends.  Are they friends?  Dorian realizes that he rather hopes that they are.

"Are you going to sleep down here?" Max asks.  "Can I sleep here too?  I like the stars."

Dorian notices that Max has blankets draped over one of his shoulders.  He stops pretending to pay attention to his book and sets it down on the floor.

"I wasn't planning on it but-- it isn't a bad idea."

Maxwell lights up, bouncing on his heels.

"It'll be like a sleepover!"

Dorian accepts the blanket Max offers him, vaguely wondering if this is a Ravenclaw thing.  His parents have never mentioned camping out in their common room.  Max cuddles up into the armchair nearest to Dorian's couch, sighing happily as he looks up at the ceiling.

"I used to have glow-in-the-dark stars on my bedroom ceiling when I was little," Maxwell tells him, wiggling to get comfortable.  Dorian watches him.

"You don't anymore?" He asks.  Maxwell laughs.

"I kept rearranging them until they stopped sticking to things.  I wanted them to look like the milky way."

Dorian thinks about that for a minute.

". . . You know, we could probably figure out how to charm your bed curtains so they'd look like the night sky."

Maxwell sits up so quickly he nearly falls out of the chair.

"Really?  Really?  We could do that?" He's too loud in the quiet common room, but his enthusiasm is catching.

"Absolutely."

Now Maxwell really _does_ vault out of the chair, abandoning his blanket in the process.

"What books will we need?  Should I get my star charts?  I'll get my star charts."

Maxwell is off running before Dorian can even point out that it's the middle of the night and they have classes in the morning.

*

By the week before Christmas holiday, Dorian is starting to get used to waking up with Giles asleep on his chest.  However, he still isn't used to Maxwell's scarf, which Max's mother knitted in Ravenclaw colors out of something far thicker than regular wool.  It covers everything between his eyes and chest in a thick layer of fluff and it's half impossible to make out what he's saying when he's wearing it.

Neria calls him 'scarfzilla', which Finn and Max both find funny.  Dorian is going to get one of them to explain to joke eventually.

Solas' hair still hasn't grown back, and Maxwell and Dorian have a running argument about whether he's shaving it or if he's just bald now.  It's one of many debates they come back to when they're bored, although it is one of the least academic.  Some nights they just lay on Max's bed under their home-made canopy of stars and compare magical and muggle astrology.  Maxwell and Felix get along, and Merrill is surprisingly easy to talk to about just about anything.  Even Finn has his moments.

They're sitting at dinner, Maxwell laughing so hard he's wheezing at something scathing Velanna has just said about deathroot extracts, when Dorian realizes that he's happy.  He hasn't worried about what might be going on at the Slytherin table in weeks.

He doesn't say anything about it, just thumps his friend on the back when he starts choking on his own spit.

"Classy, Maxwell."

*

Dorian lies a great deal while he's home.  He can't mention Max, or Finn, or Neria, so a lot of stories require heavy editing.  His father is extremely interested in his relationship with Solas, whose family has a better social standing than Velanna or Merrill's.  The fact that he's only on friendly terms with one Slytherin, a first year named Vivienne, doesn't go over well at all.

Something eases in his chest when he spots Maxwell's massive lump of a scarf across platform 9¾.  The hug he gets from Merrill halfway through putting his trunk away nearly results in loss of life and limb, but he's still feeling better than he did the whole time he was home.  Even Hawke's obnoxious laugh is comforting.

*

Maxwell cries for an hour after they're done packing their trunks for the summer.

"I'll send you loads of magic sweets," Dorian promises for the third time.  Max sniffles into Dorian's shoulder, where he's had his head for the past twenty minutes.

"No magic outside school is a _stupid_ rule," Max mumbles.  "And I'm going to miss you guys _so much_."

"I'll-- _We'll_ miss you too," Dorian says, trying not to focus on how true that is.

He's already considering enchanting his bedroom ceiling to look like the milky way.


	2. Second Year

Merrill is the first school friend Dorian and Felix run into on the platform. She's just as enthusiastic as Dorian remembers. He can _feel_ his parents staring when she hugs him.

It's probably for the best that he's already on the train when he sees Maxwell again, because that's a spectacle if there ever was one. Dorian really doubts Giles enjoys being pinned between two young wizards, and Max has absolutely no volume control. Two Hufflepuffs from the next car over actually pop in to see what the commotion is about.

It should be embarrassing, and, well, it sort of is. Mostly, Dorian is just happy to see him.

Their car ends up overstuffed with people, as Hawke abandons the Gryffindors to sit with them. She brings along a boy named Anders, who studiously ignores Merrill to talk to Neria for most of the trip.

"Frog time!" Maxwell cheers when the trolley comes by, crawling over Solas with a handful of coins. Dorian has to try not to laugh. Solas looks like someone just force-fed him a lemon.

"Jelly slugs, please," Felix asks politely, passing his money over to Max.

"You sharing those chocolate frogs?" Hawke has her grin at its highest charm power. Max laughs and nods.

"Sure! And can I get a box of scary beans too, miss?" Max asks the saleswoman.

"He means Bertie Botts," Solas offers, although the witch selling the candy was already in the process of giving Maxwell what he'd asked for. Dorian suspects she's used to muggleborn children calling her products all manner of things.

"I thought you hated those blasted things?" Dorian asks once the trolley has gone and Maxwell has kneed Solas in the ribs getting back to his seat.

"Well, half our car is Gryffindors. Thought we'd have a test of courage," Maxwell says, grinning.

Felix wrinkles his nose in distaste.

"With vomit flavored candy?"

Hawke sits up straighter in her seat.

"I am _in_!"

Hawke ends up gagging on 'old shoe' and spitting bits of candy all over the floor. It's incredibly unpleasant. Felix is looking green but solemnly refusing to name whatever he's just tasted, and Anders is nibbling on stolen jelly slugs instead of participating. Dorian spends most of the game petting Giles and laughing at the expressions Hawke is making.

Finn wins, much to everyone's shock.

When they reach the castle, Maxwell smuggles his cat into the great hall for the sorting. Dorian recognizes a few of the first years from parties he's been dragged to throughout childhood, but watching his friend sneak Giles bits of chicken is far more entertaining. Merrill nearly gives them away by joining in and giggling loudly when Giles licks her fingers.

It's very good to be back.

*

When Dorian's parents bought him a broomstick for his birthday, they probably intended for him to try out for quidditch. Instead, trying it out has become a group activity.

"Sweet Merlin!" Finn yelps as Dorian's expensive present twirls abruptly and he finds himself upside down. He's only three feet off the ground, so nobody's terribly concerned.

"I'd forgotten how terrible you were at this," Dorian says, trying to ignore that he can see straight into Finn's nose. Neria snorts a laugh.

"Be nice!" Maxwell scolds, though he's laughing harder than Neria is.

"Just get me down!" Finn shrieks.

"Oh, come on, landing is the easy part!" Hawke says, while Felix and Merrill actually try to help him.

"You're going to have to let go, you know," Merrill reminds Finn.

Finn takes a deep breath, then falls straight off the broom and onto poor Merrill. Hawke swears loudly and rushes to help.

"Everyone alright?" Felix asks, not getting any closer to the mess of flailing limbs. Somebody groans in pain, and Maxwell pulls what looks like a flask of homemade potion from his robes. Dorian doesn't know if he should be grateful someone was prepared or worried about Max's extracurricular potion brewing.

While everyone is distracted by the pileup and subsequent healing, Neria grabs the broomstick.

"Let me show you a true master of the craft," She says, just before she kicks off.

Dorian lends her the broom for tryouts, and extends the loan indefinitely when she becomes Ravenclaw's newest chaser. He doesn't tell his parents.

*

"Mandrakes are _vital_ to the brewing of most antidotes, you know," Maxwell says.

Dorian doesn't bother replying. Maxwell can go on about magical medicine for ages without a response from his audience.

"If only there were a cure for their screaming," Neria mutters. Maxwell likely can't hear her; he's leading the trek back to the castle from the greenhouses and Neria is behind him by quite a ways.

"Do you think Professor Fiona would notice if I nicked one?" Maxwell asks, and god, it sounds like he's really thinking about it. "There are so many things I could do with freshly ground mandrake root!"

" _I'd_ notice," Dorian says loudly. "Either when the entirety of Ravenclaw tower dropped unconscious from the shrieking or you got yourself expelled."

Maxwell has the good sense to look sheepish, even blushing a bit. Dorian tries not to find it charming.

*

Maxwell is halfway through his plate of scrambled eggs when an owl drops a letter onto it. The conversation he'd been having with Neria about Pluto's planetary status comes to an abrupt halt.

"Someone's written you?" Dorian asks, surprised. Maxwell is staring at his ruined breakfast like he hasn't quite fathomed the existence of mail. Merrill leans over the table to offer the owl her glass of water.

"This is my mum's handwriting," Maxwell says, plucking the letter from his eggs.

"Your parents are muggles, though," Merrill comments.

"'s why it's weird," Max says, carefully opening the envelope.

"Well? What's it say?" Neria asks, peering over Max's shoulder try to sneak a peek. After a moment of reading, Maxwell squeals and hugs the letter to his chest. Neria jerks back.

"Dorian, is that good squealing or bad squealing?" She demands. Dorian isn't sure when he became the official Maxwell Trevelyan interpreter.

"Err. Good, I think?"

Upon closer inspection, his friend is definitely smiling, so Dorian is probably right. After a few more happy squeaks, Maxwell drops the letter onto the table, literally bouncing with excitement.

"My sister's a witch!" He finally manages. Neria and Dorian both lunge for the letter, but Neria is quicker.

"What's it say?" Merrill asks, caught up in the excitement.

"Which sister?" Dorian asks, remembering Maxwell's list of siblings. He has four of them.

"Evelyn, looks like. Your mum's asking if you know how to fix her hair. Apparently it's been sparkly and pink for two days," Neria reads, which draws a delighted laugh from Maxwell.

"She's always been talented," He says, snagging the letter back from Neria. "I was so sure I was the only one!"

That strikes Dorian in the gut. He's never thought about how his muggleborn friends might feel about their differences from their families.

"Is that... Odd?" Dorian asks. Maxwell looks up from his letter.

"Evelyn? No, she's really cute, look, mum's sent a picture--"

The still photo Maxwell pulls out of the envelope is of a little girl, maybe five or six, with bright pink curls and her brother's smile. She looks ridiculously proud of herself.

"I meant being the only wizard in your family, not your sister," Dorian explains. When Max continues holding up the picture, he adds "And yes, very cute."

That seems to placate him.

"I suppose so. My older brothers are convinced I'll never get a job if I don't go to a 'real' school," Maxwell says. It doesn't sound like he's particularly bothered by this.

"I've had more problems with my muggle friends," Neria chimes in. "They weren't too keen on me going to a boarding school with no internet connection that doesn't allow cell phones."

Maxwell pats her on the back and makes a little noise of sympathy.

"What's an inter net?" Merrill asks, which completely derails the conversation.

Maxwell charms the picture of his sister to stick to the wall beside his bed and sends her a letter full of scratchy quill drawings of dragons. Dorian lends him his owl to deliver it.

*

Dorian has six library books open on their dormitory floor.  Only two of them he'd checked out himself. The rest are technically loaned to Neria and Solas, but they're arguing about their defense against the dark arts homework in the common room right now. Dorian doesn't feel bad for 'borrowing' their books.

Next to him, Maxwell looks up from his Transfiguration essay to shoo Finn's curious rat away from his quills. The amount of cat hair on Max's... everything does surprisingly little to deter the rodent.

"How do you suppose they decided which animals we can have?" Max asks, watching the rat scurry under Solas' bed. Dorian glances up from his books.

"It's traditional."

Maxwell frowns, the sort of look he gives a potion that's turned an odd color.

"But it doesn't make sense! Cats and owls  _eat_  toads and rats!" He protests.

"Giles hasn't eaten Finn's rat yet, has he?" Dorian counters. Maxwell glares at him.

"Giles wouldn't eat a friend!"

"Alright, so, you're worried about him eating an  _unfamiliar_  rodent?"

"I'm more worried about the next time Anders comes 'round with Sir Pounce," Maxwell grumbles. Dorian wonders if he hurt his feelings.

"Finn doesn't bring her outside the tower, and the day Anders solves a Ravenclaw riddle is the day Solas proposes marriage to Merrill," Dorian says. That makes Max laugh, the same involuntary little giggle he always has when Dorian says something mean.

"Still! There's a bigger issue here and you know it!" Max complains, but there's a hint of a smile on his face.

"Why don't you ask in History of Magic?" Dorian suggests.

*

Professor Wynne explains the tradition behind Hogwarts' pet rules, then takes 10 points from Gryffindor when Hawke spends the rest of the lesson asking why, exactly, dragons aren't acceptable pets.

*

Maxwell doesn't cry when it's time to go home for the summer this time. He's been arranging deliveries for weeks-- he wants to borrow every children's book on magical history and culture his friends have. He's firmly determined to give his sister as much of a sense of belonging in the magical world as possible.

Dorian is planning on sending him a few books, if he can hide it from his parents. Merrill and Solas are infinitely more helpful, which annoys Dorian more than he'd expected.

"Are you angry with me?" Maxwell asks him quietly while they pack. Dorian realizes he's been glaring at his bedpost for almost two minutes, lost in thought.

"I'm angry with myself," Dorian says with a sigh.

"Because you can't send me loads of books?"

"In a way, yes."

"Aw, come on. I don't need your parents to like me, as long as _you_ like me," Maxwell nudges Dorian's shoulder affectionately. Dorian wants to shake him, explain why Neria had hexed the last person to call her 'mudblood'. He loves his parents, and he doubts they'd forbid him from talking to any of his friends, but he can't stomach them talking that way about Maxwell and Neria.

*

Maxwell gives him his farewell hug just before they get off the train. Dorian holds on longer than he should.

He sends the Trevelyans his books, a box of chocolate frogs and a toy wand charmed to light up you wave it.

His parents don't find out.


	3. Third Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now with 50% more teenagers being stupid around their crushes!

Dorian's voice started breaking over the summer, and he absolutely _hates_ it. He has to look up at Maxwell now, Felix has begun looking at girls, and Solas already sounds like a grown man. Looks like one too, with the bald head and proud shoulders. Only Finn seems untouched by the ravages of puberty, which may actually be the worst fate of all.

It's all happening so fast, and Maxwell in particular seems keyed into the mood. Well. Either that or he's overly excited about divination. He spends the train ride back to hogwarts doing palm readings.

Hawke asks an alarming amount of questions about love, Finn checks Max's answers against the textbook, Neria scoffs at the whole subject and Dorian can't remember if Max's hands had always been as warm and gentle as they are now.

"Solas, your life line says you'll live to be two _thousand_!"

"Give me the book, Maxwell."

*

Dorian has divination with Maxwell and ancient runes with Merrill, Solas and Velanna. Ancient runes is a challenging class, but mostly in the good way. Divination is more fun, while also being somewhat of a fluff class. He and Max end up with a number of inside jokes about tea leaves, which Neria never appreciates. Felix is taking muggle studies, which Dorian's father had thought quite the scandal. Quietly, Dorian doesn't think it's anything to get up in arms about.

He doesn't envy Max, Merrill and Neria, who are taking care of magical creatures alongside Marian 'when do we get to pet Dragons' Hawke.  The potential for fatalities is very high.

*

One of these days, Merrill is going to get banned from potions class. She's phenomenal at Charms and there was an honest-to-god fight over who got to be her partner in defense against the dark arts this year (Neria won), but potions? Not her strong suit.

Today marks the third time something she's brewed has claimed a victim, following in the solemn tradition of Solas' hair.

Hawke is staring at the boils swelling on her hands and forearms like she doesn't quite believe they're real. A few of them are an extremely bizarre shade of reddish-purple, so Dorian doesn't blame her.

"Oh, Hawke, I'm so sorry--" Merrill babbles as Orsino hurries across the classroom. Hawke is visibly gritting her teeth but staying entirely silent. Next to Dorian, Felix shakes his head.

"She isn't doing herself any favors, hiding how much it hurts," Dorian comments, watching Maxwell offer Orsino and Hawke all of his vials of curative potions. Felix chuckles.

"She doesn't want to worry Merrill," Felix whispers, a hint of a smile on his lips.

"I think Merrill will worry regardless," Dorian says, watching his friend hover fretfully around her potions partner. Something Max had up his sleeve seems to be fixing the regular boils, if not the purplish ones.

"Then maybe she wants to _impress_ Merrill," Felix says fondly. Dorian gives the scene another glance and finds that Hawke is sitting with her back straight, grinning at Merrill between winces instead of paying attention to her injury.

Felix might be right.

*

On their first trip to Hogsmeade, it takes them an hour to coax Maxwell out of Honeydukes. Dorian thinks they should have expected it; they've all seen him interact with the trolley on the train.

Dorian doesn't have nearly the sweet tooth his friend has, but watching Max interact with magic sweets is even better than eating them. He carefully selects all the oddest products in the shop, including a few Dorian wouldn't touch.

"Are you seriously going to eat all those pepper imps?" Finn asks nervously, watching Maxwell grab boxes off the shelf. Max doesn't look up from what he's doing to reply.

"I need enough to test the magic in them and still have enough left over to eat," He explains absentmindedly. Finn looks anxiously at Dorian, who sighs and steers his friend towards the less flammable sweets.

The girls are browsing through the chocolates, that seems safe enough.

"Find anything good?" Dorian asks Neria as Maxwell starts investigating boxes of fudge flies.

"Well, Hawke's gone a bit mad. She's buying blood pops."

"They're for my little brother!" Hawke calls cheerfully from the other end of the display. Felix sighs.

"From the stories you tell, I think Carver's suffered enough," He says. Hawke snorts a laugh.

"Well, maybe if he wasn't such a little--"

Felix elbows her and she yelps.

"Oh, I should get something for Evelyn! Which chewing gum is the one that makes all those pretty bubbles? The one you had last term, Merrill?" Maxwell asks. Merrill abandons the Gryffindors to grab hold of Max's arm.

"I'll show you!" She chirps, pulling him back in the direction of the effect sweets. Dorian exchanges a concerned glance with Felix.

*

Maxwell's mother does not appreciate the swarms of impossible to pop bubbles as much as Evelyn does.

At least the letter is entertaining.

*

"Any luck?" Finn asks Dorian as he walks into their dormitory. He's playing wizarding chess with a very befuddled looking Maxwell, while Solas reads in bed across the room.

"No. None of the teachers are eager to give a thirteen year old access to tomes of the undead."

Maxwell scoffs.

"What's the point of having a huge library if you can't read half the books?" He complains. Finn looks like he's about to correct him, but Max cuts him off. "Yes, I know it isn't really half, you don't have to tell me."

"Evidently, 'I'm a bloody ravenclaw, I want to learn something' isn't a good excuse to delve into some of the darkest magic in history," Dorian sighs. "It was a long shot anyways."

"Do you think we could get them anyways?" Maxwell asks, looking entirely serious. "I mean, they're only roped off, how hard can it be?"

Finn looks alarmed, and Dorian thinks he sees Solas set his book down on the other side of the room.

"Nononono, _no_ , Max, let's not," Finn protests, nearly knocking over their chess game with enthusiastic arm movements. Max frowns.

"It isn't fair for them to keep information from us, Finn," He insists.

"I don't want detention!"

"I didn't say _you_ had to do it!"

At this point, Dorian thinks it's time to step in.

"I'll just try to find copies over the Christmas holidays, it's fine," He says, hoping to cut things off before Finn starts hyperventilating or Maxwell compares anything to his muggle primary school. Finn looks immediately relieved, but Max doesn't seem any happier.

"Alright then," He mutters, and for a while, that's the end of it.

*

Vivienne isn't really one of Dorian's friends, even if they do chat a bit in classes the Ravenclaws have with the Slytherins. She's never written him at home before. It's an awfully flowery message, but it condenses pretty easily into a single sentence.

Maxwell touched something in Knockturn Alley and is currently at the hospital for emergency curse removal.

He gets similar owls from Hawke and Finn before Felix can escape his father and come over to the Pavus estate.

"Should we bring him something?" Felix asks softly as they get ready to Floo over to Saint Mungo's. He's been treating Dorian like a fragile thing since he arrived, and Dorian isn't sure if he's more annoyed or grateful. The worry is eating away at his insides like a parasite.

"Is he even awake?" Dorian asks, mildly horrified when his voice breaks halfway through. If Felix notices, he doesn't comment.

"Hawke said he was," Felix says.

"Stupid git's probably too excited about meeting that many healers to care about much else," Dorian mutters angrily. He isn't surprised when Felix reaches over to give his shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"Let's go, then," Felix says as he grabs a handful of Floo powder.

Maxwell is fully conscious when they get to his room, but the damage is obvious. An eerie green glow follows the veins in his left arm, with a slash of light across his palm so bright it shines through the bandages. The room smells like a dozen different potions have been spilled in it.

"Dorian!" Maxwell calls out to him when they've made it to the doorway. His voice is raspy and there are dark circles under his eyes.

Dorian finds himself overwhelmed by a spike of worried anger and relief. The relief wins out and he hurries across the room to sit on the edge of the bed. He takes hold of Max's uninjured hand.

"What did you _do_?" Felix gasps as he walks into the room, staring openly at Max's arm. Max laughs weakly.

"Turns out Borgin and Burkes sells less rare necromancy books and more cursed artifacts. Not my best Christmas shopping expedition."

Dorian's stomach turns over. Sweet Merlin, Max was looking for a gift for _him_.

"Bloody moron," He mumbles, squeezing his friend's hand tightly.

*

By the time they get back to school, Max's arm is looking much better. The angry green outlines have faded from his veins and the glowing palm can be hidden with bandages.

The healers say he's going to have a scar for life, and it's a coin flip on if the light will ever completely go away. Max is taking it in stride, cheerfully showing his hand to anyone who asks.

Dorian is conflicted on the whole situation. Maxwell had taken a stupid risk and he should really be taking the consequences more seriously. If he doesn't learn from this, what's stopping him from doing it again? On the other hand (no pun intended), Max did it for _him_. Just thinking about it makes Dorian feel a bit lightheaded. He's starting to get worried about his Maxwell-induced heart palpitations. The whole thing is suspiciously similar to the way Hawke's cousin Daylen talks about Morrigan.

The idea that he might fancy a boy is terrifying. That would add a thick layer to his father's growing disapproval, or at least another secret to the pile. But it's hard to deny it when it's staring him in the face.

Literally.

Maxwell's always had an issue with personal space, but Dorian is now hyperaware of the way he gets right up close when he wants your attention. Dorian could count freckles, he could _kiss him_.

"What?" Dorian asks, always wary of a smile that bright before breakfast. Max isn't even fully dressed, his tie draped over this neck instead of knotted. He'd been quite excited about the owl scratching at their window.

"You know how I met that healer at the hospital?" Max says, and Dorian nods. She'd been older than Dorian's parents and very talkative.

"How could I forget? I've never seen anyone willingly explain elfroot storage in that much detail."

"Brilliant, isn't she? I'm hoping she'll mentor me someday-- Not my point! She did me a favor!"

Maxwell takes his hands out from behind his back. He's holding a thick, old book entitled 'Undoing Death'.

"Sorry it's late. Merry Christmas!"

Dorian is struck speechless. He takes the book in his hands like it's made of glass.

"I-- thank you," Dorian says, incapable of anything more complex right now.

Maxwell smiles like sunshine and Dorian's fate is sealed.

*

"Do you suppose we can fail retroactively if our predictions don't come true?" Maxwell asks anxiously over a cup of tea he's trying to read. Dorian looks up from the textbook.

"Maybe that would be fair at N.E.W.T. level, we haven't even taken our O.W.L.s yet," He assures, and Maxwell snorts.

"I'm still not used to the cute acronyms for life-ruining exams."

Dorian shakes his head.

"Felix says muggles aren't much better."

"I have my doubts about that muggle studies class. I've seen Merrill try to dress like a muggle, you lot have no idea what you're doing."

That gives Dorian pause.

"When did you see Merrill in muggle clothes?"

"She visited over the summer. I introduced her to video games, it was great fun."

Dorian struggles to swallow the stab of jealousy. He and Maxwell are closer than Max is to Merrill.

"Ah. You hadn't mentioned that."

"Oh, right. Um. My parents said my friends can come visit if they'd like, but I know your parents are, um. Weird. About the muggle thing, I mean."

The discomfort in Max's voice is obvious, and Dorian feels a bit sick. Dorian can hardly spend a weekend in the muggle countryside. His father would never allow it, and Max knows that.

They drop the topic.

*

"Let's get together over break."

Dorian gets a thrill of victory just from getting the words out. They've just finished their divination exam and found a place to sit out on the grounds. Max is plucking blades of grass and tying them into knots, quiet but peacefully so.

"Huh? Oh-- uh, yeah! That sounds great!" Maxwell says, his voice getting louder as he goes along. His whole face lights up, then rapidly twists into worry.

"What about your dad, though?"

Dorian's given this a lot of thought, and he has an answer prepared.

"We'll meet at Diagon Alley, spend the day there. Maybe show your sister around?"

That was not the prepared answer. Well, the first part was. Offering to bring Evelyn was a panicked suggestion upon realizing this sounded like a date. Still, it was clearly the right suggestion. Maxwell is beaming at him.

"That sounds _wonderful_."

**Author's Note:**

> Merrill was a Ravenclaw/Slytherin hat stall.
> 
> My tumblr is xenosaurus, feel free to talk to me about dragon age or harry potter or whatever!


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